At the Mountains of Madness - del Toro Speaks

Guillermo del Toro talks about his ideas for an adaptation of Lovecraft's At the Mountains of Madness.
Lovecraft is hard to adapt to the screen. The wonderfully nihilistic elements in his stories send big studios and audiences who want a nice feel-good or life-affirming pictures screaming in terror. I think del Toro has the right ideas:
I can hardly believe my eyes - a Lovecraft adaptation set in the proper time!?! I feel faint.
Of course, the studios won't like it so we'll probably never see it. But damn, wouldn't it be nice?

"I have the heart of a child. I keep it in a jar on my shelf."
"The power of accurate observation is frequently called cynicism by those who don't have it."

I met del Toro at the Lake Placid Film Forum back in June and he was very enthusiastic about this project. He was also one of the friendliest celebrities you could hope to meet. His knowledge of horror literature was pretty complete - he knew almost every reference thrown at him by the crowds.

Even though I'm not the biggest fan of his films - though THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE was very, very good - I think he's a great choice for a Lovecraft adaptation.

I have soaring expectations for this movie. It's my second favorite Lovecraft story right behind The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath. If he can get this right, del Toro will instantly enter my personal pantheon of movie director gods.

I don't think it'll be too hard to do. Great story and probably it won't end up seeming too like The Thing as in this case, we have explorers looking for trouble (if you get my drift), whereas The Thing is just them getting a heap of trouble put on them...
I like the sound of it, though!!

If this is done right it won't be too much like The Thing. No one confuses "Who Goes There" with "At the Mountains of Madness" do they?
Besides, as great as the creature in The Thing is, a shoggoth is going to be ever so much cooler.
I haven't seen any of del Toro's movies (but The Devil's Backbone is on my list of movies-to-see) but just judging by his words I think he's the best one to do a big budget Lovecraft movie. He certainly seems to "get" Lovecraft.

"I have the heart of a child. I keep it in a jar on my shelf."
"The power of accurate observation is frequently called cynicism by those who don't have it."

I've been unimpressed by del Toro (The Devil's Backbone did nothing for me, it's hardly the ghost story/horror film it's touted as), but I'm thrilled to hear news of Lovecraft done period. I hope he's intent on keeping the language as well, I SO want to hear a character describe something as "exceedingly singular in nature".

(The Devil's Backbone did nothing for me, it's hardly the ghost story/horror film it's touted as)

I just watched it last night and I think it's wrong for people to tout it as a story of that nature. If anything it's closer to a dark kind of magic realism than traditional horror, and in that light I think it's really excellent, easily his best movie so far. Hopefully it means he's hitting his stride as a storyteller because I really want all these neat film ideas he's been talking about to turn out well

Has there been any news about "At The Mountains Of Madness"? As a relatively new Lovecraft fan, I think this would make an awesome movie, if done right. Anybody know anything new?

All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and when ever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you: digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning, full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed.

I believe it's exactly as it was when Del Toro initially started talking about it. He estimates that he's going to need a decent budget to do it but no one in Hollywood will give him the money unless he puts out at least one really big hit. His next two movies are Pan's Labyrinth and Hellboy 2, which means he's probably not going to be making that huge mainstream breakthrough any time soon.

Moderator

The news is beyond exciting for Lovecraft, del Toro and Cameron enthusiasts. What’s even more exciting is hearing Cameron talk about their collaborative vision.
“It’s going to be an epically-scaled horror film and we haven’t seen anything like that in a really long time — I guess since Aliens.”

Like the novella on which it’s based, the film will take place in the Antarctic, where humans encounter a race called the Ancient Ones. “The thing about Lovecraft is that he left a lot to the imagination. He never told you what they looked like. He managed to create a sense of creeping horror without specifics.”

Cameron believes that’s what makes del Toro the perfect man for the job.

“Guillermo brings an eye for design that is so original and so quirky and so steeped in the lore of movie design and horror design, but always fresh and unexpected. Frankly, I just want to see what he comes up with and I want to enable the nuts and bolts of the production so he doesn’t have to worry about that. I want to help him how to work in 3-D.”